Romney, in response to a question from PBS news anchor and moderator Jim Lehrer about how he would go about cutting the deficit, said he would repeal “Obamacare” and eliminate the $450 million subsidy to PBS.

“I like PBS. I love Big Bird. Actually like you (Lehrer), too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for,” Romney said.

Longtime Woodstock resident Caroll Spinney, 78, has been the puppeteer behind Big Bird and garbage can dweller Oscar the Grouch since “Sesame Street” hit the airwaves in 1969. Spinney, reached through the art gallery owner who exhibits his work in Putnam, declined to comment Wednesday, saying he did not watch the debate, referring comment to the show’s producers, Sesame Workshop.

Sochor Art Gallery owner Sheri Sochor exhibits Spinney’s drawings and paintings. Hers is the only gallery in the continental U.S. to exhibit Spinney’s original drawings and paintings of the 8-foot yellow Muppet, and Sochor said Thursday that she has sold his works to fans as far away as Australia and Japan.

“He’s very popular. He’s loved by everyone all over the world,” Sochor said.

“If he was there to defend himself,” at the debate, Sochor said, “maybe Oscar (the Grouch) would have answered for him.”

Romney’s comment brought up a long-running debate about the issue of federal funding for public broadcasting.

Cutting funding from PBS, which broadcasts “Sesame Street” and other educational programming, is the wrong way to go, said Woodstock resident Polly Hayden.

“I don’t think keeping America stupid is going in the right direction,” she said.

Woodstock resident Sharon Leighton said private donors, not the federal government, should be funding the show. She likes Big Bird and “Sesame Street,” she said, but when money’s tight, “it’s just like the choices you make in your own home.”

“Sesame Street” has aired on PBS since 1969 and depends on PBS to distribute the program without commercials, spokesmen for the Sesame Workshop wrote in a release Thursday.

“At a time when improvements in school readiness are recognized as being much needed for a significant number of America’s preschoolers, PBS’ ability to connect Big Bird and Friends to these children is essential. We value that connection,” they wrote in a release. “We do not comment on political campaigns, but we’re happy we can all agree that everyone likes Big Bird.”